Fight
by OveliaGirlHaditRight
Summary: A missing moment from Kingdom Hearts III. Sora learns that Kairi's training to be a Keyblade wielder. SoKai. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Kairi friendship.


**Fight**

"Kairi's WHAT?!" Sora exclaimed, as he almost crashed the gummi ship into a nearby asteroid. Fortunately, with his sharp reflexes, he was able to swerve away just in time… but Sora could barely appreciate it, since he was so perplexed. But he _was_ trying hard not to be.

"She's training to be a Keyblade wielder, Sora!" Donald quacked angrily, as he nearly jumped onto the gummi ship's controls to better peer at Sora here.

And Sora wasn't really sure why Donald was getting so _mad_ at him—what? Was it because he knew Daisy never would have allowed him to doubt her like Sora now was Kairi?—but not wanting a repeat of what had happened when they got sucked into Tron's computer, Sora quickly got Donald down, put the rocket on autopilot, and then turned to face his friends.

"Sorry, Sora," Goofy piped in—always the mediator between the two frenemies—as he hid his mouth behind his hands. "We honestly thought ya knew."

"Kairi as a… Keyblade wielder?" Sora choked out now, bewildered, as he ran a hand over his face.

If he was being honest, he could have seen this coming a mile away—when Kairi had gotten her Keyblade, Destiny's Embrace, at the Castle That Never Was and had even fought there some—but the brunet had thought she had given up on that dream when she'd seen him off last time.

Maybe- maybe if she was doing something outside of fighting in the Keyblade War, he could be okay with this—or at least if she wasn't on the front lines of it!—because Sora could understand Kairi wanting to help out and learning how to defend herself… but what was Yen Sid thinking, if he was going to throw Kairi into a War he hadn't even thought that he and Riku could handle until recently?!

"Aren't you happy for her, Sora?!" Donald demanded, almost sadly now, as his arms fell down to his sides and he looked at Sora questioningly. And Sora was certain that it _had_ to be Daisy talking for Donald some now, in a manner of speaking. And it made Sora wonder if she'd convinced Donald to teach her some magic when he'd gone home for a little bit before the Mark of Mastery exam…

Outside, the gummi ship sailed beneath a massive pouring of gold something or other, and Sora almost panicked in thinking it was lava, but no: it was just what water looked like in the Other Sky now. And it reminded Sora a lot of when the sun turned the ocean gold on Destiny Islands. He smiled at that thought, and much else.

"Of- of _course_ I'm happy for her," Sora finally settled on—testing his words carefully, to make certain they were true when he said them. "Nothing that ever makes _Kairi_ happy will make _me_ anything but. I guess- I guess I'm just a little worried, is all."

Sora recalled that Kairi had dismissed Destiny's Embrace at the Castle That Never Was, for whatever reason. And that after that… even though she'd clearly wanted to go with him, for things like his fight against Luxord or Saïx, she'd been unable to. Sora could still see the tragic look she had worn on her pretty face in both instances… and it was that that was making him think she wasn't ready yet.

But at the same time, Sora _never_ wanted Kairi to feel that way again. So if she thought she was really ready-

"Kairi's always helped us in our journeys with her heart," Goofy said matter-of-factly as Jiminy hopped onto his shoulder with the Journal in hand, as if he was ready to backup the Goof's claim if Sora doubted it for a second.

But he would never! He had felt the warmth of her heart that had guided him to humanity again… and a light that had gone to him in the pod he'd slept in, and even somewhat before that, and the only hope he ever could have had at the Dark Margin being in the form of her letter to him.

"So don'cha think, Sora, that her light could help her fight, too?"

Surprisingly, Sora found himself smiling now… It felt good to talk about Kairi's accomplishments with his friends—and for them to not be teasing him about her for once—and he questioned if this was what Kairi had thought she'd been missing with them all along. And if that was the case… Sora couldn't help feeling bad, and to want to bring her into the fold right now!

"Now that you guys mention it… Didn't Kairi say she somehow escaped Axel by doing something to him in that Betwixt and Between area? And Naminé! Can Kairi do some of the things she can?! I- I think she harmed a Riku- Riku Replica? …Sorry. My memories from Castle Oblivion still aren't the greatest... But I bet you guys are right! Kairi will be alright! And how could I ever think anything else about her?" It was Kairi who had always kept him and Riku in check when it came to the raft, after all, and some of the younger kids on the Islands too, for that matter.

"That's the spirit!" Goofy inserted, stepping up to clap Sora on the shoulder now—with such a strength that it almost sent the teen flying into the windshield before him—"after all, Kairi reminds me of my Clarabelle! And Clarabelle's always had a take charge kinda attitude!"

Donald was positively irate now and had jumped on Goofy's shoulder so he could pound on his back for "stealing his thunder", when it came to using one of their girlfriends to defend Kairi.

Jiminy, thankfully, had already escaped from Goofy and was now just sitting on Sora's head with a sort of uncomfortable laugh rumbling through his chest, which Sora could get.

But Sora just couldn't get over the fact that Goofy apparently had someone in his life, who he had never once heard about! "Clara-_belle_?! What's a Clarabelle?! _Who's_ a Clarabelle?!"

Goofy pushed Donald away good-naturedly… and that _did_ send Donald into the control panel, which Sora quickly had to correct when it sent them into a fight with a large number of Heartless. Sora sighed, as he cracked his fingers and prepared to expertly fire a plethora of lasers in order to win.

But once it was over—and there were only some scratches on the gummi ship, that Sora was mostly glad for… though maybe he could still get Cid to a paint job for them—Goofy answered the question, as he sunk down his chair a little bit. Was he… _shy_ about Clarabelle for some reason? "…She was jus' the best at mannin' this difficult restaurant the King wanted us all to work at. That's all."

Sora sensed there was more to the story than he was being told—and Jiminy seemed to echo that, when he muttered something about a "Max being unsure"? Sora had absolutely no idea what _that_ meant—but he didn't press the issue.

Instead, he focused on the fact that he wasn't so different from his friends at Disney Castle. And if their own love lives were no problem when it came to their girlfriends—and wife, in the King's case—being more active, then surely it would be the same for him and Kairi!

So Sora ended up supporting Kairi in her endeavors wholeheartedly. And when her fighting was next brought up, by Master Yen Sid saying that she was also getting magic clothes, Sora was just ecstatic-…err, _after_ he got over being insulted that his own new outfit had nearly been forgotten—that Kairi would get to experience what he had a few months ago, and was about to again!

The only time Sora felt fear for Kairi at all after that, was in knowing how Xehanort was going to target her no matter what—whether they found proper Guardians to stand with her, or just the other Princesses, or not—and when the night before the final battle really hit him… which was why Sora was eager to share paopu fruits with Kairi after he got over his initial shock.

But in the end, things didn't go as easily for him as it seemed to for his friends from Disney Castle…

Though Sora would never blame Kairi for this at all! She had saved him—saved everyone!—and he'd always be grateful for it. And she'd been amazing in other ways, too.

But in finally knowing there was something different about their love—different than any other love in the multiverse, as fate seemed to fight against it more than it did anything else—Sora set out to find a way to save their bond… save her.

And where this whole journey, Kairi had been fighting for Sora… it was now his turn to fight for her.


End file.
